Written Answers Wednesday 7 January 2009

Scottish Executive

British Sign Language

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will adapt its website to enable British Sign Language (BSL) to be used.

Stewart Maxwell: The British Sign Language and Linguistic Access Working Group advises the Equality Unit on improving linguistic access for deaf people in Scotland. Since January 2008, the Scottish Government’s website has included a BSL translation of an introductory page within its People and Society Topic at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/disability/remit

  The Scottish Government has funded a wide variety of initiatives to promote BSL and has committed £1.5 million for 2008-11 to increase the number of BSL teachers and of BSL/English interpreters.

Cancer

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to raise awareness among GPs of oesophageal cancer.

Nicola Sturgeon: Awareness of oesophageal cancer among GPs is raised through a number of different routes at both a national and local level. These include the development of patient care and referral pathways by Managed Clinical Networks and the dissemination of relevant clinical guidelines such as SIGN Guideline 87 on the Management of Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer and SIGN Guideline 68 on Dyspepsia.

Cancer

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will set new targets for recruitment to cancer research trials.

Nicola Sturgeon: Better Cancer Care, An Action Plan published in October 2008 stated that the Scottish Cancer Research Network had bid for extra funding from the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) for the next three financial years. This extra funding has been agreed with CSO and details of new targets for increased recruitment of patients to cancer research trials are currently being negotiated with the aim of ensuring that recruitment exceeds the level of 13.9% achieved in 2005-06. The new targets are expected to be in place by 1 April 2009 and are likely to include:

  A greater focus on key UK flagship trials carried out across Scotland in the common tumour types; e.g. breast, colorectal and lung.

  A specific focus to increase recruitment in under-recruited groups, e.g. lung, prostate, head and neck.

  Conducting work to test whether electronic datasets available through ISD can be used to reliably capture long-term follow-up.

Child Poverty

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why interim targets have not been set towards the shared commitment to ending child poverty by 2020 in Achieving our Potential, the Scottish Government’s anti-poverty framework.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government remains committed to doing all it can, within the devolved powers available to it, to contribute to the UK Government target of halving child poverty by 2010 as well as ending child poverty by 2020.

Children's Hearings

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what factors explain an increase in the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in the Lothians.

Adam Ingram: The number of referrals made to the Children’s Reporter in 2007-08 has fallen in all of the local authority areas which make up the Lothians electoral region in whole or in part (City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian).

  There has, however, been an increase in the number of children’s hearings held in the City of Edinburgh local authority area, from 3,167 in 2006-07 to 3,364 in 2007-08.

  This figure refers to the number of hearings held, rather than the number of referrals or children, and will include review hearings for children who may have been referred in this or previous years.

  A further likely contributory factor to the increase in hearings across Scotland in 2007-08 is the improvement in pre-referral screening processes, leading to more appropriate referrals to the Reporter.

  The number of hearings in the other local authority areas which make up the Lothians, have reduced.

Community Wardens

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has on how effective community wardens are in reducing antisocial behaviour.

Fergus Ewing: An independent evaluation of community warden schemes was commissioned by the Scottish Executive and published on 23 March 2007. The evaluation, by GEN consulting, was broadly positive and found that there is some statistical evidence, much of it supported by anecdote and perception, that wardens are having a positive impact on antisocial behaviour in their target areas. The report is available on the Scottish Government website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/03/22104147/0.

  Following the concordat between COSLA and the Scottish Government, the operation of each community warden scheme is now the responsibility of its local authority. Most local authorities have since undertaken a review of their services, or are in the process of doing so, in order to determine the most effective configuration of warden services and direct funding appropriately.

Community Wardens

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next review how effective community wardens are in reducing antisocial behaviour.

Fergus Ewing: Following the concordat between COSLA and the Scottish Government, the operation of each community warden scheme is now the responsibility of its local authority. Most local authorities have since undertaken a review of their services, or are in the process of doing so, in order to determine the most effective configuration of warden services and direct funding appropriately.

  The Scottish Government’s review of the national antisocial behaviour strategy is looking at the range of responses available for dealing with antisocial behaviour, including those related to the work of community wardens. More information on any recommendations relevant to community warden schemes will be available when the review reports to the Parliament early in 2009.

Community Wardens

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to local authorities on the operation of a community wardens service.

Fergus Ewing: Following the concordat between COSLA and the Scottish Government, the operation of each community warden scheme is now the responsibility of its local authority, having been piloted and developed by the Scottish Government in previous years. The Scottish Government does not seek to intervene in the running of individual schemes but maintains regular contact with the Scottish Community Wardens Network, which provides a forum for discussion of good practice.

  The Scottish Government’s review of the national antisocial behaviour strategy is looking at the range of responses available for dealing with antisocial behaviour, including those related to the work of community wardens. More information on any recommendations relevant to community warden schemes will be available when the review reports to the Parliament early in 2009.

Finance

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement in a press release by the Minister for Communities and Sport on 8 December 2008, when it expects to complete discussions with key partners in respect of how best to spend the approximately £1 million of Barnett consequential money to provide free financial advice to the public.

Stewart Maxwell: We completed our initial discussions with key stakeholders and reached broad agreement on the way forward on 22 December 2008. My officials will continue to discuss the detailed arrangements with stakeholders during January.

Finance

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement in a press release by the Minister for Communities and Sport on 8 December 2008, when individual money and welfare advice agencies will be able to apply for funding from the approximately £1 million of Barnett consequential money to provide free financial advice to the public.

Stewart Maxwell: We have decided to allocate the funding to Citizens Advice, through Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), which has advised bureaux of the timescale for applying for funding. Bids to deliver increased capacity in both 2008-09 and 2009-10 are to be submitted by mid-January 2009. Expressions of interest to deliver increased capacity in 2009-10 only are to be submitted to the same timescale, with a final bid required by mid-March 2009.

Finance

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what dialogue it has had with HM Treasury on increasing Scotland’s capital budget to fund infrastructure investment other than the Forth Replacement Crossing.

John Swinney: : I wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 28 November 2008 to confirm our plans for accelerating capital in Scotland following the pre-budget report announcement and I wrote again on 3 December 2008 requesting £87 million of further acceleration of Affordable Housing Investment capital.

  This followed discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland on 21 October 2008 where we pressed the case to maximise investment in public infrastructure in Scotland in response to the worsening economic climate. I then wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November during the preparation for his 2008 pre-budget report repeating our support for both accelerated and increased capital spending which would enable the Scottish Government to bring forward a wide range of major infrastructure projects. I also used this as an opportunity to reinforce our claims to approximately £1 billion held by the Treasury which should be handed over to Scotland to fund its six-point plan to boost the Scottish economy.

Foster Care

Christopher Harvie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which independent and impartial complaints body is authorised to investigate complaints against local authorities from foster carers contracted by them on a self-employed basis.

Adam Ingram: There is no specific independent body which investigates complaints against local authorities from foster carers.

  The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care can investigate complaints about the quality of service provided by registered care services, which includes local authority fostering services.

  The Scottish Social Services Council investigates complaints about registered social workers.

  The Scottish Government has provided funding for The Fostering Network (TFN) to provide an advice, information and mediation service to foster carers and agencies across Scotland on difficult foster care issues.

  Getting it right for every child in kinship and foster care acknowledged a need for a national protocol to ensure that allegations against foster carers were handled sensitively and efficiently. The Scottish Government commissioned TFN to develop a national protocol, capable of being adapted to fit local circumstances and to include the needs of kinship carers. TFN are currently consulting on the draft document.

Historical Monuments

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments.

Linda Fabiani: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the public bodies landscape is simpler, more focused and easier to navigate, by bringing together organisations with similar skills, expertise and processes. As part of this approach, we are examining the scope to rationalise historic archival, recording and scheduling functions and for streamlining the activities of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Historic Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland. Work is currently in progress with these organisations to determine the most effective structure for delivering the public services that they provide.

Housing

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18285 by Stewart Maxwell on 8 December 2008, why a combined housing allocation for Edinburgh and Glasgow has been announced for 2009-10 and 2010-11 while there are no projections for other local authorities.

Stewart Maxwell: A combined housing allocation has been announced for Edinburgh and Glasgow for 2009-10 and 2010-11 as this is included in the Local Government Finance Settlement. Grant allocations for other local authority areas come from the Affordable Housing Investment Programme budget and decisions have still to be made on this for 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Housing

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a new weighted system has been established for the distribution of housing resources and, if so, on what basis.

Stewart Maxwell: A new weighted system for the distribution of housing resources has not been established but we have agreed with COSLA to set up a joint group to look at the framework for allocating affordable housing investment, including key indicators, geographic priorities etc. This work will start in January 2009 and the outputs will inform Affordable Housing Investment Programme resource distribution decisions from 2010-11.

Housing

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent achievement of the 2012 homelessness target is taken into account when making decisions about the distribution of housing resources.

Stewart Maxwell: The shortage of affordable housing is one factor that is taken into account when considering the distribution of housing resources. Other factors include homelessness pressures, regeneration priorities, existing commitments, etc.

Housing

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the shortage of affordable housing is taken into account when considering distribution of housing resources.

Stewart Maxwell: The shortage of affordable housing is one factor that is taken into account when considering the distribution of housing resources. Other factors include homelessness pressures, regeneration priorities, existing commitments, etc.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the £18 million brought forward under the accelerated housing programme, how the average amount paid per site compares with the projected cost of sites set out in Firm Foundations, The Future Housing of Scotland, A discussion document .

Stewart Maxwell: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18741 on 7 January 2008. £8.036 million is to be directed at acquisition of sites from the £18 million announced. This will fund 16 sites at an average purchase price of £0.502 million per site. These sites will have the capacity for around 475 new homes. This equates therefore to £0.017 million purchase price per home.

  Firm Foundations does not project the costs of sites but refers to historic total development costs and makes projections on how they would increase if left unchecked. The cost of sites is dependent on the market conditions and also on the site conditions and will differ from project to project.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the economic and financial climate, whether it plans to review the qualifying criteria for the Homestake initiative.

Stewart Maxwell: The New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE) Scheme and the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot (OMSEP) form part of the Scottish Government’s Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT), which was established in October 2007. These schemes replaced the former Homestake scheme.

  For the NSSE scheme, eligible target client groups are set at the local level, in discussion with the relevant local authority and based on local housing needs. Registered social landlords (RSLs) can agree with the Scottish Government or, for properties in Glasgow or Edinburgh, with Glasgow City Council or the City of Edinburgh Council to widen the range of previously agreed target client groups where appropriate. In December 2008, a procedure note was issued to Scottish Government regional teams and to Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council to ensure that (a) the marketing of properties is based on realistic valuations and (b) to clarify that properties which cannot be sold within a reasonable timescale should be considered for conversion to mid market rent or social rent. The procedure note was welcomed by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.

  Like NSSE, OMSEP is principally targeted at allowing first time buyers on low to moderate incomes to access entry-level home ownership. The number of households buying properties through the scheme is rising all the time. To provide further support to first time buyers in the continuing difficult economic climate, we are extending OMSEP, currently available in 10 local authority areas, to the whole of Scotland for a 12 month period from Spring 2009.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have applied to take part in the Scottish Government’s Mortgage to Rent scheme in 2008-09.

Stewart Maxwell: Participation in the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme is voluntary and landlords are approached by the MTR team on a rotational basis to consider buying properties of applicants for MTR in their area.

  In 2008 a total of eight local authorities were approached to buy properties through the scheme.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have been successful in obtaining funds form the Mortgage to Rent scheme in 2008-09.

Stewart Maxwell: In 2008-09, the local authorities who have obtained funds from the Mortgage to Rent scheme to buy properties are as follows:

  Aberdeen City Council

  City of Edinburgh Council

  East Lothian Council

  Midlothian Council

  North Ayrshire Council

  North Lanarkshire Council

  Perth and Kinross Council

  Stirling Council.

Housing

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish a separate funding allocation for medical adaptations in housing association properties.

Stewart Maxwell: We have no plans to establish a separate funding allocation.

Housing

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that funding for medical adaptations in housing association properties is given sufficient priority.

Stewart Maxwell: The need for medical adaptations reflects demand and can vary from year to year. Programme agreements with Registered Social Landlords make clear Scottish Government’s readiness to agree arrangements that ensure that medical adaptations can be prioritised.

Housing

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that allocating small but significant funds for the purpose of supporting medical adaptations in housing association properties would benefit many residents throughout Scotland, allowing people to stay in their own homes for longer.

Stewart Maxwell: We recognise the benefit which can flow from adapting houses, allowing people to stay in their own homes for longer. In allocating resources for this purpose, Scottish Government has to take account of overall funding available and competing priorities including pressure for additional new homes and also the capacity of the housing association to meet or contribute to the cost.

Mental Health

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to monitor the incidence of stress-related disorders.

Shona Robison: There is no common definition for stress related disorders. However data is collected by Information Services Division Scotland, and obtained through the Practice Team Information (PTI), from a sample of Scottish GP practices, where stress related disorders are included within a grouping for Depression and for anxiety and other neurotic disorders.

  The information will help NHS boards to plan and respond to the needs of people with stress related disorders.

Mental Health

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much stress-related disorders have cost the (a) NHS and (b) Scottish economy in each of the last three years.

Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. There is no common definition for stress-related disorders.

Mental Health

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provides to self-help and voluntary groups dealing with stress-related disorders.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government and partners currently supports and works with a range of organisations supporting and caring for those with a stress related disorder and their families. A range of grants and other support is in place. Each is kept under review for relevance and continued fitness for purpose.

  Some organisations take this care group and needs as their sole or lead focus while others including, for example, Scottish Association for Mental Health, The Mental Health Foundation and Depression Alliance Scotland include this care need within their range of attention.

NHS Funding

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-5138 by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2008, whether measures to improve the Arbuthnott formula and ensure that no NHS board will receive less funding than it does at present will include an increase in the overall amount available for board funding.

Nicola Sturgeon: Yes.

NHS Funding

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-5138 by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2008, whether it will bring forward an allocation of additional funding to NHS boards that demonstrate particular needs or shortages, as has been done for the Western Isles NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The bulk of health funding in Scotland is allocated by way of formula which takes account of boards’ relative health care needs. The Scottish Government provided additional resources to those boards who are below both their current Arbuthnott formula and NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) target allocations in 2008-09 in advance of NRAC’s implementation in 2009-10. These boards, NHS Lothian, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Orkney received increases ranging from 3.23% to 3.50% in their initial allocation for 2008-09. All other NHS boards received increases of 3.15%. The average increase to all boards’ initial allocation in 2008-09 was 3.3%. Boards have also received in-year allocations for specific projects.

  Future years’ uplift levels, including parity uplifts, will be considered and announced in line with the parliamentary process and taking into account funding earmarked for Scottish health priorities within the overall Scottish Government financial settlement.

NHS Staff

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle the number of attacks on staff at hospitals in the Lothians.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Scotland employers, the trade unions and professions are committed through the Staff Governance Standard to providing staff with a safe and secure environment. Violent and aggressive behaviour towards staff is completely unacceptable and is addressed in a comprehensive manner by NHS Lothian as detailed in their violence and aggression policy. NHS Lothian also work with the police to ensure, as far as possible, that staff are working in safe environments.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many comments have been removed from the National Conversation website after initially being published and what the reasons were for their removal.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11294 on 23 April 2008. The situation remains unchanged.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unique visitors the National Conversation website has had.

Nicola Sturgeon: The number of unique visitors to the National Conversation website up to 6 January, 2009 was 72,706. 460,000 hits on National Conversation themed pages; 35,000 online viewings of Choosing Scotland’s Future , and over 4,200 posted comments demonstrate the value of the National Conversation website as a platform for debate about Scotland’s future.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what work is taking place to evaluate contributions to the National Conversation; who is conducting this work, and at what cost.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government and its officials are evaluating contributions to the National Conversation on an on-going basis. Work on the National Conversation is done by officials as part of their normal duties and no additional cost is incurred.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits to (a) the National Conversation home page and (b) National Conversation-themed web pages have been from a Scottish Parliament or Scottish Government server.

Nicola Sturgeon: The IP addresses of individual contributions to the National Conversation are not captured as a matter of course.

  The general privacy statement on the Scottish Government’s main website, which includes the National Conversation pages, states that any analytical data collected will not be used to identify any user personally.

  Because contributors to the National Conversation are able to provide as much or as little identifying information as they consider appropriate, the Scottish Government considers IP addresses to have been provided in confidence and is therefore not in a position to disclose the origin of comments beyond what individuals have provided publicly themselves.

  This is consistent with section 38(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of detail it retains regarding traffic to and from the National Conversation website.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government’s website employs a web analytics system that collates a range of web traffic information which is then compiled into reports as required, subject to data protection considerations. For example, the system can provide the number of page views recorded between specific dates, or the number of times a selected publication has been downloaded.

National Conversation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list its directorates that have (a) responsibility for an aspect of and (b) a budget allocation for the National Conversation, also showing the amount and broken down by financial year.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate is responsible for co-ordinating the National Conversation. Costs of co-ordinating the National Conversation are met from within existing DG Justice and Communities allocations. All other directorates across the Scottish Government have a role in taking forward the National Conversation. The cost of National Conversation activity across all portfolios is met from within existing budgets.

Pre-School Education

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many whole-time equivalent General Teaching Council for Scotland registered teachers are employed to provide pre-school education by (a) Dundee City and (b) Angus councils.

Adam Ingram: The latest information on the whole-time equivalent of GTCS registered teachers employed to provide pre-school education in each Scottish local authority (as at January 2008), by type of provider, was published by the Scottish Government on 17 September 2008 (table 26).

  This publication can be found using the following link: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00682.

Prison Service

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many foreign nationals were released from prisons in Scotland into UK Border Agency detention in the last 12 months.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  There have been 90 foreign national prisoners released to the UK Border Agency between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008.

Prison Service

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many sentenced foreign nationals were released from prisons in the last 12 months.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  There have been 592 sentenced foreign national prisoners released between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008.

Renewable Energy

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was budgeted for marine renewable energy in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) 2008-09.

Jim Mather: The renewable energy budget is not broken down into support for individual technologies.

  However, the following figures show the renewable energy budget, including the Green Jobs budget, for each of the years in question.

  

 Year
 Budget


 2006-07
 11,920,000


 2007-08
 9,920,000


 2008-09
 22,525,000

Smoking

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recommendations made by the Smoking Prevention Working Group, what research it has commissioned to ascertain the extent of use by young people of smuggled or personally-imported tobacco.

Shona Robison: As I made clear in my statement to the Parliament on 21 May 2008 when I launched the Smoking Prevention Action Plan Scotland’s Future is Smoke-free which is based on the recommendations of the Smoking Prevention Working Group, the Scottish Government proposes to establish a research and evaluation framework to assess the impact the measures proposed within the action plan. This will form part of the wider tobacco control research and evaluation programme which is being developed by the standing sub-group of the Scottish Ministerial Working Group on Tobacco Control, which is being set up under the chairmanship of Dr Laurence Gruer, Director of Public Health Science, NHS Health Scotland. The primary purposes of this sub-group will be to review and make full use of existing research, identify gaps in research knowledge and evaluation practice in Scotland, and to make recommendations for a programme of activity to fill these gaps. The need for further research relating to the extent of use by young people of smuggled or personally-imported tobacco will be considered as part of that process.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19144342/0.

Smoking

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recommendations made by the Smoking Prevention Working Group, what steps it is taking to reduce the volume of tobacco smuggled into Scotland.

Shona Robison: As I made clear in my statement to the Parliament on 21 May 2008 when I launched the Smoking Prevention Action Plan Scotland's Future is Smoke-free which is based on the recommendations of the Smoking Prevention Working Group, the Scottish Government is keen to see proposed action to tighten the enforcement of illegal sales from legitimate business, matched by firm action on sales of smuggled and counterfeit tobacco. Fiscal policy matters are reserved to Westminster. However, in line with the HM Revenue and Customs and the UK Border Agency’s integrated strategy Tackling Tobacco Smuggling Together the Scottish Government, the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland and HM Revenue and Customs/the UK Border Agency have been exploring how best to work in partnership to reduce the impact of these illicit sales on Scottish communities. We will be making an announcement early in 2009 about this collaboration.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19144342/0.

Special Advisers

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) media and press officers and (b) special advisers were in its employment on 1 January in each of the last three years.

John Swinney: The number of special advisers in post on 1 January in the last three years is:

  2006 – 11

  2007 – 12

  2008 – 9.

  The number (full-time equivalent) of specialist Communications Officers employed by the Scottish Government Communications Directorate to handle ministerial/portfolio press work in post on 1 January in the last three years is:

  2006 – 42.6

  2007 – 40.6

  2008 – 40.2.

State Hospital

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18594 by Shona Robison on 11 December 2008, how soon the State Hospital will reduce its numbers to a level that can be accommodated in the new redeveloped facility.

Shona Robison: Allowing for forecast progress with the building and commissioning of the new facilities the new level of patient provision should be achieved by July 2009.

  Practical contingencies have been included in the current and forward planning to ensure continued safe care at all stages to completion and beyond.

Thrombosis

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards hold stocks of a patient information leaflet, dated November 2007, covering the potential signs and symptoms of deep vein thrombosis.

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards hold stocks of a patient information leaflet, dated May 2008, covering the potential signs and symptoms of deep vein thrombosis.

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards hold stocks of a patient information leaflet, dated November 2008, covering the potential signs and symptoms of deep vein thrombosis.

Nicola Sturgeon: On 26 January 2008 the Chief Medical Officer and the Chairman of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) wrote to the chief executives of NHS boards enclosing a model patient information leaflet on deep vein thrombosis which boards were advised to use in place of their own local leaflets. In a report to the Chief Medical Officer of December 2008, NHS QIS has confirmed that 13 NHS boards had indicated that these leaflets were now widely available, in both hard copy and electronic format. NHS QIS has also verified that the content of these leaflets is in line with the text recommended to boards.

  The remaining board has given a commitment that its leaflets will be available by the end of January 2009.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Commission on Scottish Devolution

Christina McKelvie (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answers to questions S3W-17981 and S3W-17978 by Alex Fergusson on 4 December 2008, whether it will clarify how it ensures best value from the resources it allows to the Calman Commission.

Alex Fergusson: Having resolved to instruct the SPCB to allocate resources, it is for the Parliament to decide whether best value is obtained. However, as confirmed in answer to questions S3W-17981 and S3W-17978, the SPCB continues to monitor the level of resources committed.

Commission on Scottish Devolution

Christina McKelvie (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S3W-17978 by Alex Fergusson on 4 December 2008, what involvement the Broadcasting Office has had in the Calman Commission.

Alex Fergusson: The Parliament’s Broadcasting Office arranged for the recording and broadcasting via webcam of the oral evidence sessions held in the Scottish Parliament. They also provided assistance to the commission with its information video.

The Official Report

Christina McKelvie (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S3W-17978 by Alex Fergusson on 4 December 2008, who owns the reports created by the Official Report.

Alex Fergusson: These reports were published and are owned by the Commission for Scottish Devolution.